Can an official besides the WH eject players/coaches if he sees fit?

[Brandon Kincer]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Brandon, you're overcomplicating the issues.

First, forget the rec game. As you said, neither official was certified. There's a different standard when working with cretified HS officials.

Second, the referee is in charge of the crew and the game. He wears a white hat so as to distinguish him from the other officials.

Third, in most areas, the referee has a say on who works on his crew. Therefor, yes, he can usually have a crew member replaced if he wants too.

Finally, referees usually have years of experience. They are going to make better decisions thant you will. As this point in your career, you learning what to call. But even more importantly, you have not even begun to learn what NOT to call. This is where you will need to listen to the more experienced officials.

The veterans will listen to you but it's much more important that you are the one who listens.

I agree. I really do want to succeed in being a football official. I talk to certified officials on the phone at games and even work with them indivdually to be the very best I can be. One official even has it set up to where i get in his HS games free and stand near the field so that I can watch and learn. Im doing the very best I can and asking the questions that I feel I need to ask.

[With_Two_Flakes]

Heh, heh - and that's why God gave us one mouth and two ears, so we listen twice as much as we speak.

If you are already in contact with some of your local registered officials, then that is a good start. Pick their brains all you can, ask them why things were done as they were on games of theirs that you watch. They won't mind. Attend all the meetings of your local officials group. Show them that you are keen to learn. Hopefully one or two of them will become your mentor and take some time to help you along.

One final point. Officials tend to go through 3 stages.

Stage 1: the game is a blur. Apart from the obvious things (False Starts, etc), they don't see any fouls either live ball stuff or dead ball stuff after the play. They either move too much when they should stand and let the play happen, or they are static when they should be moving.

Stage 2: they recognise live action fouls. They flag everything because they see everything. The live action game has slowed down for them and now they see the fouls they've read about in the Rules and BANG! out comes the flag every time. They still miss some dead ball stuff though, they tend to be too keen on getting the ball in to the Umpire instead of watching players.

Stage 3: they've learn to relax even more. They think about whether the foul they saw affected the play, they won't flag stuff that doesn't (eg a hold away from the point of attack), but they may have a quiet word with the kid so he knows it was seen. Anything player safety related, they'll flag wherever it happens on the field and they catch all the dead ball stuff because they know to watch the players for that extra couple of seconds.

A good official recognises what stage he is at and works hard to get to the next stage. It also takes patience, it won't happen overnight.

[Brandon Kincer]

Honestly guys everyone who replied to this topic I really appreciate it. Like I said this is something I want to grow in and you guys are giving me extremely good advice. Thanks again.